[261] See preceding vol. page [431].
[262] A writer of Spanish verse, and the author of several approved Spanish comedies.
[263] Jacinto Cordero (according to the Spanish orthography and pronunciation of Cordeiro), Elogio de poetas Lusitanos. Lisb. 1631. Those who wish to study the progress of Portuguese poetry, will derive no information from this book.
[264] A sufficient acquaintance with the more celebrated of these Portuguese sonneteers, may be acquired from the collection of Portuguese poems, edited by Matthias Pereira da Sylva, under the following fantastical title:—A Fenix renascida, ou Obras poeticas dos melhores engenhos Portugueses (though only those of the seventeenth century are included). Segunda ediçaõ. Lisb. 1746, in 3 volumes octavo. Not one half of this collection is worth perusing.
[265] See preceding vol. page [428].
[266] Barbosa Machado notices this polygraphic author with nearly as much enthusiasm as the Spaniards speak of Lope de Vega. He even asserts, that, in point of style Faria y Sousa may be placed on a parallel with the most distinguished of the ancient writers.
[267] They are included in the first and fourth volumes of his Fuente de Aganippe. (Madrid, 1446).
[268] The following sonnet will afford a specimen of these compositions. It is not indeed totally free from affected phrases; for example, the sixth line. But that line is sufficiently atoned for by the rest:—
Ninfas, Ninfas, do prado, tam fermosas
que nelle cada qual mil flores gera,
de que se tece a humana Primavera
com cores, como bellas, deleitosas;
Bellezas, ô Bellezas luminosas,
que sois abono da constante esfera:
que todas me acudisseys, bem quisera,
com vossas luzes, e com vossas rosas.
De todas me, trazey maes abundantes,
porque me importa neste bello dia
a porta ornar da minha Albania bella.
Mas vôs, de vosso culto vigilantes,
o adorno me negays, que eu pretendia,
porque bellas nam soys diante della.